The present invention relates to an articulating patient transfer apparatus and method for using same, for transferring a person from one surface to another surface whether both surfaces are relatively flat/planar or not. Although the prior art teaches many devices to aid in moving a person between two different flat surfaces of equal height, such as between a bed and a medical examination table, all of these teachings demonstrate limitations that the present invention addresses and overcomes.
The need to transfer a patient, person or animal that is unable to move completely under its own power is a common occurrence in the medical and veterinary professions. Typical scenarios include: ambulance personnel needing to move a semi-reclined patient from a transport cot to a flat hospital bed, the need to move a patient from a gurney to an x-ray table, and a nursing home resident needing to be moved from a bed to a wheelchair. Traditionally, these transfers require a multitude of care givers and a sheet in addition to some form of transfer device such as a slide board or a mechanical lifting device. However, it is still very common to encounter situations where there are an insufficient number of caregiver personnel to affect a safe transfer, both for the patient and/or the caregivers. Many medical facilities have limited staff, ambulance crews may only have two rescuers, and home healthcare aids may be completely on their own yet still must move patients despite the difficulties and risks.
Transferring patients between beds and other surfaces is a significant cause of musculoskeletal injury among caregivers. Despite the numerous devices that exist to facilitate these transfers, many caregivers still resort to simply physically lifting the patient between the surfaces because of cost, convenience, or lack of training. Back and shoulder injuries to the healthcare providers occur because the patient transfer causes the caregiver to become off balance and twist their own body in order to move the patient. In addition, many patients cannot move under their own power or are obese which further increases the risk of injury to the caregivers. The cost of these injuries to caregivers is significant, but may also create additional patients that now may require transfer themselves.
In addition to the injuries to caregivers, there is a risk of injury or additional pain to the patient from the jerking movements that are common during patient transfers. If a patient has a broken bone or other injuries, any disruptive movement can complicate the injury or recovery. The transfer process may cause new injuries such as skin tears, abrasions, friction burns, and joint injury. Also, intravenous lines, feeding tubes or other monitoring wires often become dislodged or damaged during many patient transfers.
Many devices exist to help address these problems. However, most are designed for clinical hospital settings such as for transfer from a flat gurney to a flat x-ray table. In addition, most of the existing transfer devices are only designed for sliding a patient between two supporting surfaces and cannot hold a patient's weight by themselves which limits usefulness. Typically, a patient must be rolled onto his side and have a sheet placed under him, have the device slid under the sheet, and then have the sheet and patient pulled across the piece of equipment by several caregivers. These types of devices may or may not work well in these limited situations, however these devices do not address many other common scenarios such as where a patient must be lifted in addition to being transferred, the patient or the surface is not completely flat, or the number or physical ability of the caregivers to affect a safe patient transfer is limited. For example, emergency medical and out of hospital caregivers frequently encounter situations where a patient must be moved several times with different devices or techniques, such as a move off of the floor to a cot and then from a cot to a hospital examination table.
While some existing devices are somewhat flexible, most still do not conform very well to a non-supine body. They can over flex causing a patient to slide off of the board prematurely. Another problem is that they require a storage space that is the same size as the device. These shortcomings have led to most healthcare providers defaulting to the “sheet method” of simply picking up a patient by the sheet upon which they rest and then lifting or sliding the sheet to the new location. Unfortunately, the lack of rigidity in the sheet, lack of grasping handles, and the potential for the sheet to rip or tear can lead to the same problems that exist with other current transfer devices.
An example of a prior art device that helps move a patient between flat surfaces is described in U.S. Publication 2008/0155746 to Neumeyer. This device is described as a rigid plastic slide board that is used to move patients between two support structures such as between a bed and a cot. The device is positioned under the patient who is then slid across the surface of the board onto the next surface while decreasing the likelihood of injury to the caregiver. However, this invention would not permit the safe transfer of a patient that was not in a supine position. The device is flexible to allow for slightly elevating a patient's head or legs, but the entire device could slope creating an uncomfortable surface on which the patient could accidently slide or fall off. Also, the flexed device would not allow for proper support of a patient with bent knees without additional padding such as pillows, and would not flex nearly enough to move a patient safely from or to a seated or upright position such as sitting up in bed. In addition, the device is specifically designed not to bear a patient's weight further limiting its usefulness, for example, if a patient needs to be moved off of a floor to a bed.
Another prior art patient transfer device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,115 to Marchione teaches a planar device with two rigid panels for moving a patient between two supporting surfaces. This device purports to accomplish the common objective of most slide boards, moving the patient between two surfaces, with the added benefit of folding in the middle for easier storage. While this may allow movement between a semi-reclined surface and a flat surface, it does not permit support of a patient with bent knees or other positions with more than a single bend only in the middle of the device. Another problem that this device does not solve is the patient that needs to be first lifted off of one surface before transfer between other surfaces of equal height.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,416 to Johansson describes a patient transfer mat with a body portion and two folding wing sections. This device is designed to fold for compact storage and conform to the curves of a human body. However, this device is substantially smaller than a human body and requires multiple devices to affect the transfer. In addition, use is complicated in that more than one device must be placed all of the way under a patient and then the patient is strapped in place. Next both devices must be pulled at the same rate across the surfaces or there will be torque placed on the patient's spine. Additionally, as the device is less than one half of the size of a body, it may not be used to lift a patient at all.
Therefore, a need remains for a patient transfer device that is safe to use for the patient and the caregiver that can conform to the wide variety of situations that occur necessitating the transfer of a patient. More specifically, a need still exists for a multi-panel foldable patient transfer apparatus that can adapt to a non-supine patient or a non-flat surface and can affect a patient transfer with a minimum of caregivers and can bear the patient's weight as needed, and method of the same.